Jim, no, there are no features to set "windows of
availability" for CF. So either CF was up and responding, or it
wasn't. Even if it was, it may also be that your problem was with
IIS.
The first thing I'd do is check the Event Log (Application)
to see if CF was indeed up or down. Look for event ids 3 and 4 for
the "source" being the name for your CF server as shown in the
event viewer. Then I'd check if the web server itself may have gone
down, using the same approach (though it's less likely). I'd also
check the Event Logs (application or system) for any indications
that the IIS application pool(s) may have have gone down. It's not
unusual for the pools to recycle, but being down for an extended
period may point out a web server problem (by which CF often gets
blamed unfairly).
If that's not the issue, I'd then check the IIS logs, to see
if indeed requests were being processed during that time. When
people say "the server is down", that just means their requests
were not processed. It may well be up and processing other
requests. You'd also want to check whether cfm or other extensions
were being processed at the time, their status codes, and the
time-taken for each request (if enabled for the log in the
properties for the site in IIS).
And when people report that it is "down", I'd also run
requests using CF's built-in web server if it is/was enabled. If it
responds on that web server, but not IIS, then that confirms a
problem either with IIS or the web server connector between CF and
it. The default port for CF's built-in web server is 8300, 8500, or
some variation like it, depending on the version of CF and other
things. You can confirm if it's enabled and what port it would be
by looking in the jrun.xml file. For more info, see resources like
http://livedocs.adobe.com/coldfusion/7/htmldocs/wwhelp/wwhimpl/common/html/wwhelp.htm?context=ColdFu...
I realize you mention that these are web services requests
coming in. But as far as CF and IIS are concerned, those are
regular requests, so they go through the same web server process
and CF request queue. (You don't mention what version of CF you
have--whether 6, 7, or 8--and whether it's Standard or Enterprise.
In CF8 Enterprise, there is a new feature to give web services
requests their own set of request threads. You can see that in the
CF Admin "Request Tuning" page.)
Finally, I'll point out that besides the web server logs,
this is a problem that would be well served by having a tool like
FusionReactor (fusion-reactor.com) and its great logging features
that track all kinds of details about each page request. Of course,
it's a great monitor and notification tool, with optional request
protection features as well.
I'll say in closing that if anyone has problems like the
above and would like some help (someone looking over your shoulder
to help you solve such problems), I'm happy to provide that sort of
support, as discussed at carehart.org/consulting. But as you can
see above, I'm also happy to share the info for people who prefer
to solve problems on their own.
/Charlie (troubleshooter, carehart. org)
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